Tascam SX 1 better then DAW?

nabberigu

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 1, 2013
Messages
58
Karma
5
From
Illinois USA
Gear owned
SX-1 LE and SX1-LE PLUS
Recorded a 4 piece punk/powerpop band last weekend. Drums, lead and rhythm guitar, bass guitar, lead vocal and back up vocal.
The band wanted a promotional video/music clip of two of their songs. So we set up the whole band in my studio to play live. Had some camera's running to record some video footage.
I recordered 12 tracks into the SX 1 LE plus. Since my DAW has more possibilities to process and edit/mix the recording I transfered the 12 tracks into Presonus Studio One.
I did a pretty basic mix on the SX 1 with eq and compression on some tracks and used effects like Chorus and Reverb from the Tascam. I ended up with a descent sounding live mix I thought but I wanted to see how far I could take it in my DAW.
So I mixed for a couple of days in Studio One but wasn't really satisfied and couldn't get the sound right to my feeling. Going back to the SX 1 I found the sound more live like and realistic.
Going back and forth between SX 1 and DAW I cam to the conclusion that I might have processed to much in Studio One and lost the "live" feeling working more towards a polished studio mix. I made what I thought appropriate changes in order to get back to the live feeling sound the SX 1 so easily produced.
Now I still feel the SX 1 sounds better and I wonder if it is just this case of live mixing that the SX 1 likes so much even though I produced some great studio mixes with the Tascam as well.
Could be the conversion stage to Studio One that makes everything sound cleaner but less live like?
I am a bit puzzled since it only took me several hours to get to what now turns out not just a descent but a very good mix in the Tascam environment and I have have been working up a sweat for days in my DAW and I seem to not even get near what the Tascam achieved.
Anybody with similar experiences or suggestion how this can happen? I am grateful for all your input.
I just hope it is not because I love my Tascam so much and that I psychologically favor this mix over the DAW. I try to keep an open mind and use all my tools to get to the best results for the band.

Harrie
 
Last edited:
Many watchers. Input anybody? Have been trying to match up the DAW to the SX 1 but have not been successful so far.
 
I don't agree :)
 
I am interested to hear if you have experience to share.
 
Yes recording and editing using a DAW (Cubase for me) and all of its features while mixing through the Tascam DM3200 trumps a standalone recorder in my opinion. That's not to say you aren't getting nice recordings using your equipment.
 
Thanks for your input. I am getting really curious why I experienced this difference and I am planing some tests to figure it out.
My thought are that the converters and the mix bus summing in the Tascam has to do with this so I am gonna record a mix bus output from the Tascam into the DAW and compare both outputs on my monitors. Then I am gonna transfer a whole mix and set all the levels as close as I can to the the Tascam and compare those two mixes.
 
I just got a used one. I always wanted one but had to get pissed at Cubase enough to do it. I wanted and environment that would record audio and midi and had touchy things that consistently worked. Well after fighting with the sx 1 and it's automation for a minute I can say this....the sound is entirely different right off the bat. The preamps must be amazing. super fat sound.....the mic modeling and other affects are great.....the manuals are pretty clear as manuals go........so I figure that I could have used a daw attached to an equally amazing set of pre's but I could have never done it for $500.00....plus the feel is amazing......once you get flying on this thing .....its good!
 
What were your beefs with Cubase? I am using Cubase 8 right now with my Tascam DM3200. I too heavily record instruments along with heavy MIDI implementation and I've enjoyed a glitch free, control surface environment for years.
 
...I needed a touch surface.....and great preamps ....I was using windows and it got ugly......
 
That's not very specific and certainly not the average user's experience in 2015. Many people make the mistake of using their every day computer as a DAW not realizing there are configuration rules. I went the route of purchasing a PC that was configured specifically for DAW use and it's been a joy to use ever since.
 
Furthermore, there is no way that the preamps in an SX-1 are any better - or any different, most likely - than those in a DM-3200.

There's a phenom that happens with guitar players... they come to believe that guitars song radically different because of appearance. While they are both solid-body guitars with a 25.5" scale length over single-coil pickups (and with the bridge pickup in essentially the same position), they will swear that a Telecaster is "brighter" than a Stratocaster, or that a rosewood fingerboard makes a guitar sound "darker." (Neither is true.)

It's entirely possible that the SX-1 really does sound better to your ears because you simply like it better.
 
Hi Jim,

I see your point with guitars. I am not thinking about the SX 1 preamps. They are ok just a bit edgy and not linear towards the highest levels but most compact designs are like that. I use Presonus preamps (M80 MP20 and VXP) and TC Electronic DI on my interface. The presonus preamps sound quite a bit better then the SX 1 but that is understandable because of different design and price point.
My main interest is in the general sound of the SX 1 and how easy that is to accomplish. I have been doing some more mixing in Studio One 2 and it is just taking me more effort to surpass the SX 1. The editing in Studio One is much faster and easier but the sound of the SX 1 is just so pleasant.
I do notice that since working more with Studio One the workflow gets easier towards a professional result.
I am open minded and have no real preference. Both the DAW and the SX 1 give me the results I am after they just have different ways to get there. I am still happy to use both systems the hybrid way. Record on the SX 1 and do the editing and mastering in the DAW and if I need a quick mix I will do the whole thing in the SX 1 and only the mastering in the DAW.
Finally I would like to say that there is something about having faders under your fingers. That is something I definitely prefer over mouse.
 
Sounds like you're ready to graduate to a Dm3200
 
You seem to like your DM 3200. Never heard one so I don't know the difference with a SX 1.
 
SX1 belongs to the portasound line of Tascam, while DM3200 and DM4800 are the top of the line digital mixer of Tascam.

I. May be you are deceived by the portability of the unit and the ease of use when pressing Play, Stop, etc.
While it becomes clumsy when you do all those on CUBASE

II. However, like what cmaffla is doing OTB, I am also doing it despite using PT10, and a RME-Fireface UFX sound card.
II.1. ITB mixing is always giving a problem on DIGITAL HEADROOM, so most of the ITBers will mix with a very low level on the MASTER LEVEL, and then CRANK it up during MASTERING
II.2. Point II.1. will make you CRANK UP the level of the speaker monitors in the control room. And that will make a monitor set-up using a "SPL", to do that
II.3. The Portasound and the DMs have already those facilities in the unit, and that is maybe another point that makes you fell comfortable with the portasound

III. I am a OTB guy, coming from those old consoles like SSL-4000G, NEVE-VR, EUPHONIX CS2000, and like cmaffla, I have a lot of outboard gear which quality can not be replaced by plugins. So I encourage you to find a DM3200 at the least, because it is the best value for money digital console in the market
But TASCAM has ceased producing it......Sigh
 
The SX-1 was NOT part of Tascam's portasound line. I believe the SX1 series was a member of the DM24 digital mixer (predecessor to the DM3200/4800) and the MX2424 hard disk recorder family of products. The mic preamps in the SX-1 were the same or very similar to those in the DM24 and of good quality for circa 2002. As I recall, the list price of the SX-1 at its 2002 introduction was $8,999 and it was a cutting edge professional machine with full size 100mm faders and other features only found on large format mixers.
 
RussD,

Tq for your enlightening, I thought it was a Portasound family,
However I have been using DM3200 since 2007 and Dm4800 since 2010, and I love the input versatility of the unit
Have scored a lot of hits on that mixer, since the death of my euphonix CS2000.....Lol

I am still using it as an automated summing machine, where by I use all Eqs and dynamic on PT12 with RME MADI HDSPe with SSl Alpha Link R, as the 24 I/Os.
So all outboard efx will retrun to DM4800, and I use the automation feature of DM4800, through the SMPTE Clock Input on DM4800, and I buy a SPMTE card clock to drive the DM4800.

Sometimes on multitrack takes like drum or live band I use all the DM4800 DM's but use outboard compressors and gates

If it is dubbing I use outboard press like SSL, NEVE, TOFT

So I think I have a better summing system the all those SPL, NEVE, DANGEROUS, SMPRO, etc. that are available in the market

The DM3200 will do the above function as well,
BTW, my DM is equipped with 2 DMAD cards, and 2 MA8 TDIF mic press, which are very awesome for it's price

Tq Russ for the highlight
 
The preamps of the DM24 and SX-1 sounded better than the DM32oo when recorded in a side by side test on the old forum. The SX-1 is/was a great development. And as Redbus and other developers here have explained cutting edge at it's introduction. The TMD8000 before that was too very bad ass... And compared to modern DAW's still very much at the forefront of digital mixing (56bit internal bussing and mixing).

Currently new recording interfaces are getting on par with the SX-1 and DM24 preamps. Since Texas Intruments have produced preamps in a chip wich are very very good. And that development has not stopped yet.

Sometimes a tool is so good because the user has grown into that product. That's why some tools help you and others not....

Since 64bit processing is getting really nice in current daws I feel the products for 2016/2017 will probably be on par with the SX-1/DM24. But it has been a long haul before the DSP programmers of the 80's were beaten. And still it is a small step at a time thing. We now see RAVEN with their touch screen daw. And.... It's two steps back.....
 
I have been using a standard SX-1 for over 10 years with high end AKG and Nuemann mics directly into the SX-1 mic preamps and it sounds amazing. The SX-1 when released in 2001 was designed as a professional platform, NOT as a Portastudio. I have been very happy with the sonics of the on board preamps and my final mix results. Even now, 15 years after its release, the SX-1 can hold its own against current production DAW systems.
 
I said it many times: "If we could only revive the SX 1 project and elevate it to today's standards.
 

New posts

New threads

Members online

No members online now.